‘Squid Game 2,’ 2024 in Review, 24 Hours of Andy Hardy
As a grisly post-Christmas treat, Netflix drops a second season of the global hit Squid Game. Robin Roberts leads an ABC News recap of 2024. Turner Classic Movies showcases its Star of the Month, Mickey Rooney, in a 24-hour marathon of Andy Hardy movies.

Squid Game
The algorithm made them do it. How else to explain Netflix dropping a second season of the brutal Korean pop-culture phenomenon the day after Christmas? So much for goodwill toward men, as a new gathering of desperate sitting ducks participates in those deadly children’s games. Among them, once again donning his green track suit and 456 label, is Season 1’s sole survivor, Gi-hun (Emmy winner Lee Jung-jae), so shattered by the experience he couldn’t enjoy the fortune he earned and vows to stop the game from the inside. Won’t be easy, even with detective Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) on the outside trying to locate where the carnage is being secretly staged. In a new twist, the players vote after each round whether to continue, turning one side against another when the forces of greed take on those arguing for self-preservation.

The Year: 2024
Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts looks back at the past eventful 12 months, with fellow ABC News anchors and correspondents weighing in on the news events and breakthrough celebrities that made an impression. The two-hour special features interviews with Olympians and Dancing With the Stars alums Ilona Maher and Stephen “Pommel Horse Guy” Nedoroscik, musicians Elton John, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the ever-outspoken Charlamagne Tha God, ABC personalities Joan “Golden Bachelorette” Vassos and Abbott Elementary’s Lisa Ann Walter, with RNC co-chair Lara Trump reflecting on the presidential race.

A Family Affair
To cap the monthlong tribute to Star of the Month Mickey Rooney, TCM showcases the actor’s best-known role, as sweet-natured and girl-crazy Andy Hardy, in a 24-hour marathon of all 16 movies in the franchise. It begins with 1937’s A Family Affair and ends on Friday at 7:15 am/ET with the 1958 sequel Andy Hardy Comes Home. If you only have time for one, consider Love Finds Andy Hardy (10:15 am/ET) from 1938, with Andy torn between his girlfriend Polly (Ann Rutherford), the alluring Cynthia (Lana Turner) and new neighbor Betsy (Judy Garland making her first appearance in the series).
INSIDE THURSDAY TV:
- The Flipping El Moussas (9/8c, A&E): Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa return for a second season of flip-minded renovations in back-to-back episodes, starting with a challenging bungalow marred by years of filth and then juggling their next flip with Taylor’s 13th birthday party.
- Mountain Men (9/8c, History): In the season finale, musher Lauro Eklund races across 260 miles of ice along the Bering Sea coast to cross the Iditarod finish line, while hunter Jake Harek and his pack of dogs face off with a black bear.
- Tyler Perry’s Zatima (streaming on BET+): Season 3 of the Sistas spinoff continues, with Fatima (Crystal Renee Hayslett) making a tough decision and Zac’s (Devale Ellis) deal with Bryce (Remington Hoffman) and Preston (Trinity Whiteside) in jeopardy.